World Uyghur Congress, 28 September 2018

Uyghur Man in UAE At Risk Of Deportation To China

The WUC issued a press release this weekexpressing serious concern for the well-being of Mr. Abudujilili Supi, an ethnic Uyghur who was recently arrested in the United Arab Emirates on unclear charges and is now at imminent risk of deportation to China where he would be at certain risk of arbitrary detention and possible torture.

27-year old Abudujilili Supi has lived in Sharjah, UAE, a city close to Dubai, on a three-year residence permit since his arrival in March 2017 from Egypt. He has worked since his arrival as a muezzin at the Abdullah bin Rawaha mosque, until he was arrested by plainclothes police on the afternoon of September 20, 2018. No communication is now possible, compounding the risks of forced deportation.

Due to the seriousness and severity of the persecution, states should join German and Sweden in immediately halting the forced return of any Uyghur to China. The WUC strongly urges the international community to ensure that Uyghurs abroad are properly protected, while speaking out loudly on the human rights crisis inside the country.

WUC President In Norway to Raise Plight Of Uyghurs

The President of the World Uyghur Congress, Dolkun Isa, was in Norway to bring more awareness to the plight of Uyghurs in East Turkistan and in the Uyghur diaspora. During his visit, along with Norway Uyghur Committee, he met members of Norwegian PEN, part of a worldwide association of writers, to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere.

Important issues such as the Uyghur writers who are imprisoned or detained amongst the arbitrary detention of over one million Uyghurs and other ethnic groups were raised during the meeting.

Mr. Isa, and Norway Uyghur Committee also met with the Rafto Foundation this week. They discussed issues such as the human rights violations in East Turkistan.

Roundtable Discussion on Uyghur Issues in European Parliament

This week the World Uyghur Congress, UNPO and Human Rights Watch attended a roundtable discussion in the European Parliament hosted by the EP Uyghur Friendship Group on the EU’s response to the mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs in internment camps.

Members of the European Parliament who are part of the Uyghur Friendship Group discussed the current human rights crisis in East Turkistan and the need for the European Parliament and the European Union to take concrete action to address the issue.

The roundtable discussion proved to be an important occasion to raise further awareness of the human rights crisis facing the Uyghur people in China, especially with high-level European Parliament members. We hope that it will act as a stepping stone to further action from the European Union in the future.

Subcommittee Hearing on Uyghur Issues

This week US House Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, convened a hearing focusing on Uyghur treatment in China – China’s Repression and Internment of Uyghurs: U.S. Policy Responses. The hearing looked at the serious and deteriorating human rights situation faced by Uyghurs and explored policy options to address these issues within U.S.-China relations.

With credible reports and solid evidence, including satellite images showing the internment camps, witnesses at the hearing also testified to the existence of “political reeducation” centers or camps throughout East Turkistan. Over one million Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic people are held in these facilities and subjected to torture, medical neglect and maltreatment, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and other forms of abuse resulting in the death of some detainees.

Those who testified included Nury Turkel, a US based lawyer and chairman of the board Uyghur Human Rights Project, Adrian Zenz, an independent researcher based in Germany who is an expert and researcher on China’s ethnic minorities, and Justin Jacobs, an associate professor in the Department of History at American University.

The chair of the hearing,Congressman Ted S. Yoho, spoke about serious and deteriorating human rights situation faced by Uyghur Muslims and members of other Muslim ethnic minority groups.

Members of the Committee also discussed policy options to stop human rights abuse perpetrated by the communist Chinese party towards Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic people.

Young Uyghur Women Dies In The Camps While Being Detained

A young Uyghur woman in her 30s died while arbitrarily detained in an internment camp, reports Radio Free Asia.According to an officer at the Onsu Police Station, the Uyghur woman was from Village No. 6, or Tuman village, in Onsu’s Jam Bazar township, but the police officer did not provide any further information.

RFA was told that the young Uyghur woman died “at the beginning of the year” and her husband also died “sometime ago”. The couple have a child between 3 and 4 and most likely will be taken by the Chinese authorities to be sent to an orphanage.

Those who arbitrarily detained faces poor treatment at the hands of their overseers in the camps and endures poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often-overcrowded facilities – circumstances that can lead to severe complications for people already vulnerable to health issues. There have now been at least 36 confirmed deaths of Uyghurs in the camps, though the actual number could be much higher.